Saw a BMW I8 yesterday.
Those are extremely sexy looking cars. If only they’d bump up the power a bit to make it more competitive with the Tesla S in terms of performance.
The i8 has only 370 combined hp between it’s three cylinder gas motor and EV motor.
The top end S has 762 combined hp and is all electric. Why is nobody else making an all electric car that actually has a good amount of range, especially in this price range of car?
I didn’t even know they existed until I looked it up today. I saw the BMW logo on the back or wouldn’t even have known what make it was.
A Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid, I hadn’t seen the car before and had to look it up once I got the name.
LOL. I’d probably recognize it by deduction since I know and can identify all current generation Honda vehicles.
I hadn’t heard of them before. I just took a glance at the Honda site – they have three versions: all electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell. The plug in looks comparable in range to the Volt, though maybe a little slower. The all-electric is only rated at 89 miles per charge, which is piss-poor by today’s standards (my Bolt goes 240 on a good day). I didn’t look close at the fuel cell version, but that’s kind of interesting. I know Honda has been pursuing fuel cells for a while now. AIUI, the easiest way currently to get hydrogen to power fuel cells is to separate it from hydrocarbons (e.g., fossil fuels), so it’s unclear how much benefit they’ll end up having as far as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But if there is a low-emission way to produce the hydrogen and use the existing gasoline distribution network, that could be a better option than all electric while eliminating the range issues. I’ll have to read more about it now that they’re actually on sale for real.
And a Tesla Model 3, my first sighting in the wild, in our parking lot at work. It was parked next to a Tesla Model S in the exact same color and I almost didn’t notice the differences. I see many Model S and X every day, this is the first of the Model 3’s.
1962 Studebaker. It’s for sale down the block. Reminded me of one of my favorite lines from The Muppet Movie:
Fozzie: “A bear in his natural habitat. A Studebaker.”
Within a mile or two, on the freeway while commuting home yesterday, two interesting cars — one old ugly duckling (albeit cute), and one modern and beautiful: a Citroën 2CV, and a BMW i8.
The summer cars are coming out to celebrate the nice weather. I saw a well used TR6 in BRG on the street during my morning run, and then a Corbin Sparrow electric on my commute.
I hadn’t heard of the Corbin Sparrow before. I just read a little about them. Pretty interesting! The guy stopped making them for a while, but now he’s back with a new design that is supposed to go on sale this year. The new one has the back half covered in dimples like a golf ball. It’s cool and horribly ugly at the same time.
ETA: Being a three-wheeler, I wonder if you’d need motorcycle plates for it, and a motorcycle license. I guess it depends on the state. I think that was one hurdle Elio Motors ran into. They were trying to get their three-wheeler classified as a car instead of a motorcycle, a fight they had to have in every state. IIRC.
Missed the edit window: And check out the drivetrain. Pretty clever placement. It takes 9 seconds to get to 60, though, which is kind of disappointing.
Pretty sure that this is the one I saw this morning. It appears to be classified as a motorcycle and requires a Class M license in MA.
This one isn’t one of the new models, it’s a 2000 model year, converted to electric.
I saw a beautifully burnished 2CV today. Highly unusual sighting in my neck of the woods. Black & burgundy.
Separated at birth from a Fuldamobil, presumably. Actually, the later ones look less homemade.
Saw a 1st-gen Mazda RX-7 in pretty nice shape. I haven’t seen one of those in years, and it’s been decades since I’ve seen the 2nd-gen one that aped the Porsche 944.
A Chevrolet Greenbrier…a Corvair van-based pickup.
The AMC Rebel you describe was called The Machine by AMC. I’ve never seen one, but they’re pretty cool.
Not an exotic, but I saw a tomato sauce orange mid-70s Austin Maxi this afternoon: I thought the last ones had rusted away 30 years ago. Fat, ugly, lumpen thing it was, too: they were nicknamed Landcrabs for a reason.
A new 2019 Subaru Ascent - I’ve never seen or even heard of the mid-sized SUV before, but it had big decals on the back telling me what it was. Must have been a dealer car. I assumed this was a new generation of the old Tribeca but it appears to be based on the same new global platform for the Imprezza. Not bad, but pretty generic looking.
Also what I think was a Porsche 930 (1975-77) 911, it’s not a car I can easily tell the different model years apart.